Chapa accused of using buzzer in 2014

The Texas Racing Commission has notified jockey Roman Chapa that he is facing an additional charge of using an electrical device on a horse in a race at Sam Houston Race Park in 2014, one month after suspending the rider for five years for the same charge.

According to the notification, Chapa is facing an additional five-year suspension for allegedly using an electrical device on Quiet Acceleration in the 2014 Richard King Stakes at Sam Houston. Chapa has been told to appear before the stewards April 16.

Chapa has already been banned for five years and fined $100,000 for the same charge in the 2015 edition of the Richard King Stakes, also while riding Quiet Acceleration. He also has been charged with a felony and misdemeanor by Texas prosecutors for using the buzzer and lying to investigators.

The notification did not provide evidence of the new charge. The 2015 suspension was based on a photograph of Chapa riding Quiet Acceleration that appeared to show an object in Chapa’s left hand while riding the horse. Chapa, 43, had been suspended two times earlier in his career for using an object on a horse, with the latest five-year suspension elapsing in 2012.

Quiet Acceleration, trained and owned by Danny Pish, won both editions of the Richard King Stakes, a $50,000 race on turf.